Rashida Jones as Karen Filippelli
Karen Filippelli of NBC's
The Office is played by Rashida Jones. Karen was a sales representative at Stamford branch of paper distributor Dunder-Mifflin, but was later moved to its Scranton branch after her boss, Josh Porter, left for a managerial job at Staples. She enjoys playing first person shooter PC games during her free time and named herself KarenTheJimSlayer, playing on the British side.
Karen was a likely candidate for Assistant Regional Manager for the Stamford branch until Jim Halpert got the job. Since then, she became intimidated by him, until her intimidation turned into a crush. The two had some flirtatious moments together, such as the incident when she creates a small explosion out of paper clips after Jim pretends to throw a grenade at her. Jim also helped her find her favorite Herr's Salt and Vinegar potato chips when the office vending machine was sold out. Karen on the other hand, offered Jim a ride home when he got too drunk to ride his bike.
Karen became disappointed when Jim persuaded her to move to New York City, as she thought that he did not care where she ended up. He later apologized for sounding indifferent. Although having been involved in the love triangle between Jim and Pam, Karen and Pam were friendly with each other, after Karen complimented Pam's sweater. Phyllis was a supporter of the Karen-Jim relationship, and Dwight commented that Karen was pretty and appeared to be intelligent.
Later, Karen discovered that Jim had feelings for Pam, but Jim denied it, saying that it was all in the past. However, after Jim agrees to play a prank on Andy with Pam, Karen again got suspicious and confronted Jim about his feelings for Pam, which he admitted.
Despite the revelation, the two went to a cocktail party at the house of David Wallace, Dunder Mifflin's CFO together. Karen took the opportunity to prank Jim and told him that she had previously dated some of the male guests at the event. This made him very insecure, to the point of losing his patience. He confronted her once and for all, and she told him that he was the first man she was with.
The two stayed together until Jim broke up with her after they both interviewed at Corporate. Despite saying that they should still try to cooperate with Jim as co-workers, she left her job at Scranton the next day without a word. In season four, we find out that she is now the Regional Manager at the Dunder Mifflin Utica branch.
(Photo courtesy of NBC)